abscissa
Americannoun
noun
-
The distance of a point from the y-axis on a graph in the Cartesian coordinate system. It is measured parallel to the x-axis. For example, a point having coordinates (2,3) has 2 as its abscissa.
-
Compare ordinate
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of abscissa
1690–1700; feminine of Latin abscissus (past participle of abscindere to abscind )
Compare meaning
How does abscissa compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The lowest ERK2 concentration at which the mass signal of the compound was still observed is shown on the abscissa.
From Nature ● Apr. 22, 2018
"I know what an abscissa is, any how!" cried the Captain.
From All Around the Moon by Roth, Edward
The distance along the horizontal line—or the abscissa, as a mathematician would call it—represents the date.
From The Story of the Heavens by Ball, Robert S. (Robert Stawell), Sir
This value of the incandescence lamp I can use as an ordinate to a curve, the scale number which marks the position of the color in the spectrum being the abscissa.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 595, May 28, 1887 by Various
Corrected values for the turbidities obtained were plotted with the turbidity values on the ordinate and the antigen dilutions on the abscissa.
From Myology and Serology of the Avian Family Fringillidae A Taxonomic Study by Stallcup, William B.
Two lines or axes at right angles to each other are chosen, intersecting at a point called the origin; the horizontal axis is the axis of abscissae, the vertical one the axis of ordinates.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3 "Gordon, Lord George" to "Grasses" by Various
The abscissae, or horizontal distances, are temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit from 30 degrees below zero, at the left, to 220 degrees above, at the right.
From Seasoning of Wood by Wagner, J. B. (Joseph Bernard)
The speeds are plotted as abscissae, and the electrical work absorbed in watts divided by 746 as ordinates; then with a series-wound motor we obtain the curve, EE.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 430, March 29, 1884 by Various
To find these speeds we load the brake to different weights, and plot the resulting speeds and horse powers as abscissae and ordinates producing the curve, BB.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 430, March 29, 1884 by Various
By the end of the day, the sand is crisscrossed with a mesh of ordinates, abscissas, curves to account for everything in nature.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
The areas of the wound are plotted as ordinates with the respective times of observation measured in days as abscissas.
From Manhood of Humanity. by Korzybski, Alfred
Conversely, knowing the volumetric ratios, compression pressure can be read directly by proceeding from the scale of abscissas vertically to the curve and thence horizontally to the scale of ordinates.
From Aviation Engines Design?Construction?Operation and Repair by Pag?, Victor Wilfred
He does not see the combinations of the abscissas and ordinates very clearly.
From The Life of the fly; with which are interspersed some chapters of autobiography by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander
The preceding tables, in which the ordinates represent the number of correct reproductions and the abscissas the age, are interesting.
From Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene by Hall, G. Stanley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
